Family, friends share memories of I-80 suicide victim

Saturday

Nov 20, 2010 at 12:01 AM

A failed relationship with his girlfriend, his family home in Pocono Summit going into foreclosure and other issues led ESU student Justin Rubinstein-Miranda to commit suicide by driving his car into a steamroller on I-80 Thursday, his family said.

ANDREW SCOTT

Those who knew him say East Stroudsburg University junior Justin Rubinstein-Miranda took his mind off his own problems by helping others.

But in the end, a failed relationship with his girlfriend, his family home in Pocono Summit going into foreclosure and other issues led to pain so unbearable that it caused Rubinstein-Miranda to commit suicide, his family said.

At 4:35 p.m. Thursday, Rubinstein-Miranda was driving his 1999 Ford Escort Coupe west on Interstate 80 in Pocono Township when he went off the road and into the median, between the west- and eastbound lanes, where his car struck a parked steamroller. He was extricated from the car and flown to Lehigh Valley Hospital, where he was pronounced dead by the Lehigh Valley coroner at 5:39 p.m. Thursday.

He would have turned 21 on Thanksgiving.

"I was afraid Justin was going to do something like this," said his tearful mother, Bonni Rubinstein, sitting at her dining room table with two of her four other children nearby.

The family said he recently had mentioned wanting to drive off a cliff because of his depression. He had been seeing a counselor on campus, which seemed to be helping, but then the family got the tragic news Thursday.

"When the police contacted me, I knew," Bonni Rubinstein said. "I could hear it in the tone of their voices. I said to myself, 'Justin's dead.'"

It was a sad end to a life spent trying to make a difference for others, according to family and friends.

That life began in 1989, when Rubinstein-Miranda was born to Raymond and the former Bonni Miranda in the Bronx, N.Y. He lived in Westchester County, N.Y., until age 10, when he moved with his mother, stepfather and three younger half-siblings to Pocono Summit.

He graduated from Pocono Mountain East High School, where he had been a straight-A student active with the Debate Team, LEO Club and other extracurricular activities. He maintained a 4.0 grade point average from his freshman into his junior years and was majoring in social studies with a focus in his great passion, history, aspiring to become a high school history teacher.

At the time of his death, Rubinstein-Miranda was active in several student organizations on campus including RISK, which seeks to prevent students from making self-destructive decisions, and the campus Kiwanis chapter, Circle K. He was also a Monroe County Historical Society member.

"Justin was very passionate," said Circle K President Mikhail McCalla, who had known him for two years. "He would forget his own troubles, put on a big smile and do what he could to help others around him. I learned from him and fed off his energy."

McCalla last saw Rubinstein-Miranda at 4 p.m. Thursday, more than a half-hour before the crash. McCalla said the two were supposed to discuss Circle K business at that time, but that something seemed to be bothering his friend.

"He was trying to be upbeat as usual, but I could see he wasn't in the best shape and he needed some personal space, so I let him leave," McCalla said.

Later that evening, McCalla was at dinner with friends when another Circle K member contacted him and told him Rubinstein-Miranda had been in a crash and died at the hospital.

"I was really shocked," McCalla said. "I just didn't know what to say. I've since heard that his death was a suicide. He never showed any signs of being in that much pain."

Losing his friend in such a manner has made McCalla appreciate life all the more.

"Life is too short," he said. "We shouldn't spend it being consumed by negativity. We should enjoy life and enjoy the people we love and try to make the world a better place, like Justin tried to do. He inspired me to keep doing what I'm doing."

Bonni Rubinstein said her son had that inspirational effect on those who knew him.

"What I want people to remember the most about Justin is how giving he was," she said. "I'm gonna miss everything about him."